1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, in which a heat exchanger is disposed approximately horizontally and air blown from a blower passes through the heat exchanger upwardly from below.
2. Description of Related Art:
An air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,107. In the conventional air conditioning apparatus, a cooling heat exchanger is disposed in an air conditioning case approximately horizontally, a heating heat exchanger is disposed approximately horizontally in the air conditioning case at an upper side of the cooling heat exchanger, and a blower is disposed at a side of the air conditioning case.
In the conventional air conditioning apparatus, air is blown from the blower toward a lower side of the cooling heat exchanger approximately horizontally in a vehicle width direction, and passes through the cooling heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger upwardly after the flow of air is bent from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction. Therefore, air blown from the blower mainly flows toward an air-blowing forward side of the cooling heat exchanger in the vehicle width direction by inertia. Further, because the cooling heat exchanger is inclined downwardly toward the air-blowing forward side to improve drain performance of condensed water generated in the cooling heat exchanger, air blown from the blower partially mainly flows toward the air-blowing forward side along the inclination of the cooling heat exchanger. On the other hand, in the conventional air conditioning apparatus, a bypass passage is provided adjacent to the heating heat exchanger at the upper side of the cooling heat exchanger. However, the heating heat exchanger and the bypass passage are arranged adjacently in a direction perpendicular to an approximately horizontal air-blowing direction from the blower toward a lower side of the cooling heat exchanger. Thus, a flow dispersion of air passing through the cooling heat exchanger and the heating heat exchanger becomes larger. As a result, an ununiform flow distribution and an ununiform temperature distribution of air blown toward the passenger compartment are caused.